


Alien Ailment

by IronLlama



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memory Loss, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:27:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronLlama/pseuds/IronLlama
Summary: During a trip to another planet, Stephen encountered and picked up a strange virus that's causing his body to shut down and affecting his mind. It becomes a race for Tony to figure out what's wrong and stop it.
Relationships: Stephen Strange & Wong, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	Alien Ailment

Stephen paced around the library, book in hand as he tried desperately to concentrate on anything besides the pain radiating through his body. The words on the page blurred together over time and he threw the book across the room in frustration, watching as pages tore and fell away. Since his return from a trip to one of the neighboring galaxies he'd been experiencing random bursts of pain that felt like a fire burning under his skin, melting and eating away at his muscles. His bones ached with every movement. Meditating had done nothing, the pain keeping him from relaxing and letting go properly. He had quit trying with an outburst of anger that startled both the cloak and Wong.

The worst part of this was that Stephen couldn't even recall what happened to leave him in this state. A blip in his memory that made no sense because as far as he could recall there was no space in his memory for one. It was as if whatever had taken place happened within a nanosecond, a blink of an eye. One breath he was fine and the next had been a painful inhale of air that left him reeling only to go downhill from there. The same day he returned home an ever growing pressure had begun in his head, driving the sorcerer mad.

"Stephen."

Stephen turned at the sound of his name, halting his pacing. Wong was standing in the doorway of the library eyeing the book Stephen had flung into the wall before he leveled him with a concerned gaze. Making a point of ignoring it, Stephen turned and grabbed another book, "Do you have anything useful to tell me this time or are you just here to disturb me again Wong?"

Ever since his return home to the sanctum, Wong had been working nonstop to figure out what kind of ailment he could be suffering from. Every increase in his symptoms meant more time Wong spent researching. Two weeks and the man had nothing to show for it, always updating Stephen on nothing and consistently prodding him about his condition as if it wasn't expected by now for the pain to be worse and more consistent. Stephen was growing tired of it all.

"You need to see a doctor."

Stephen scoffed and slammed the book down onto the table, throwing a glare in Wong's direction. "I don't need a doctor, I AM a doctor!"

"Maybe, but you can't run tests on yourself, not in your state." Wong frowned as he went over and picked up the discarded book. "Whatever this is it's origin doesn't appear to be mystical. I've searched every book, talked to everyone I could. Nothing Stephen. It's time you seek medical help instead."

Stephen waved the man off and turned to leave when excruciating pain shot up his spine, ripping a scream out of him. It felt like his spine was twisting, wringing itself out before snapping violently back into place. His knees gave out and he nearly collided with the floor when the cloak swooped in and caught him. The world disappeared before slowly coming back into focus, first sound, than sight. He blinked, staring up into Wong's worried face.

Furrowing his brows, Stephen sat up slowly, his back stiff, "Wong when did you get here? What happened?"

The look in his friend's eyes shifted from worry to fear, a look Stephen rarely ever saw cross the man's features. "I'm getting you help Stephen."

Wong stood and helped Stephen to his feet, keeping a steady, but light hold on his back as he led him to a nearby chair. The cloak stayed nearby, close enough to help if needed, but pointedly avoiding touching Stephen. It repeatedly reached out a corner only to stop inches from him as it fluttered about anxiously. Sitting down, Stephen tried desperately to blink away the black, inky tendrils creeping into his vision with no success.

"Stay here and keep an eye on him." Wong looked at the cloak who nodded and motioned for Wong to go. "Thank you."

He shot Stephen one last glance before leaving to go get the one person he knew could not only convince Stephen to seek medical help, but may just be able to figure this out. Stephen watched him leave, waiting for the portal to evaporate before standing. He smacked the cloak away as it tried to assist him, the thing jolting back as he let out an honest to god growl. The damn thing was starting to get on his nerves with its mother hen attitude.

_**It's holding you back.** _

Stephen screwed his eyes shut as the pressure in his head grew, his skin crawling.

_**He's tired of this, of you. You're just a burden to him. To everyone.** _

Stephen began pacing again, scratching at his wrists in an effort to stop the burning. A low, pitiful whine slipping past his lips that sounded unfamiliar to his own ears.

_**You don't need them, they don't want you. I do. You and me, together, forever.** _

He scratched harder, more frantic. His breathing turned labored as the pressure in his head became unbearable. He could end this, could end the pain if he just-

"Stephen!"

Stephen flinched violently, his eyes flying open as a pair of hands took hold of his arms and held them still. Tony was looking up at him with downright terror in his eyes. The look made Stephen's chest tighten, his breath catching in his throat as he looked down at his wrists. Blood ran down his arms, dripping onto the floor and staining the hardwood red.

"Don't you ever think like that again, you hear me?" Tony's voice came out shaky, but stern and pleading all the same.

Stephen swallowed thickly as realization dawned on him that he must have been talking out loud. Now pulled from his thoughts, he felt his resolve begin to crumble, fear creeping in and finally taking a hold of him. He wasn't sure where those thoughts had come from and it terrified him. Tony carefully examined his wrists before looking into Stephen's eyes, his own softening as he saw the raw fear. "Let me help you Stephen, we can figure this out, but I need you to trust me."

Without hesitation Stephen nodded, not trusting himself to speak without breaking down. Tony gave a ghost of a smile before turning to Wong who had been standing nearby. He quickly conjured a portal to the med bay in Avengers tower where Tony had prepared his team the second Wong came to him for help. Turning back to Stephen, he took a hold of the sorcerer's arm and gently led him to the portal, the man trembling under his grip.

"I'll figure this out, I give you my word." Tony softly reassured him as they walked through the portal, the cloak staying behind with Wong as it hesitantly settled over the man's shoulders.

\-- --- - --- --

Tony ran a hand through his hair as he stared hopelessly at Stephen's latest results. The man had been growing sicker every day, blood tests and scans showing all of his organs to be steadily deteriorating. Within five days of arriving here they had to perform emergency surgery to remove Stephen's appendix. His lungs were currently their main concern, the man already relying on a nasal cannula to breath.

Stephen was also having difficulty remembering things and often lost time, waking up confused as to why Tony was there or why he wasn't back at the sanctum. He still appeared to remember everything before his ailment which was the only blessing Tony could find in this mess. Two weeks of nonstop testing and research had come up empty, the hope of curing Stephen dwindling every day.

"It's dying."

Tony's head snapped up at the hushed statement. Stephen was watching him through half-lidded eyes, struggling to focus on anything. The sorcerer had been bed ridden since arriving at the med bay. Sleep was rare at first, the pain making it impossible to fall asleep or waking him up screaming and writhing in agony. It took a couple days, but Dr. Cho's team was finally able to come up with a mixture that helped numb him to the pain. The only downside was the meds also affected his mind and left him out of it most days or downright groggy. Despite the effects of it, Tony hadn't heard him talk nonsense before and frowned.

"Who's dying?"

"This thing, it talks to me. I think." Stephen frowned as he struggled to understand himself, fear sparking in his eyes. "I'm hearing voices Tony."

Tony swallowed the lump trying to form in his throat. The ailment was affecting his mind, it had been from the beginning. This was still new however and he would cling to whatever hope he could, no matter how fragile. "We'll look into that, I promise. Can you tell me anything else, what it's been saying? Nothing's too small."

A few beats of silence before Stephen spoke again, his voice barely reaching Tony as he slipped back into unconsciousness, "It doesn't like the ultrasound...too loud."

The ultrasound? Tony's brows knit together as he fell deep into thought, a small spark of hope igniting in his chest. The last ultrasound Cho's team performed was four days ago. Stephen's last lapse had been just the other day. As usual he hadn't remembered a thing since coming to the med bay, Tony filling him in again on all the important details. Enough to let him have an understanding of the situation, but not enough to know how dire it truly was; though it's not like Tony could keep how shitty Stephen must feel a secret. One thing he knows for certain he didn't share was how they had done an ultrasound or any of the tests in detail really. He kept medical info short and sweet as to not overwhelm Stephen so explaining to him all the testing they had done seemed unnecessary. There were tests done and that's all he needed to know.

Yet here was Stephen talking about the ultrasound. No, talking about something else informing him of its dislike for the procedure. If it hadn't been for that critical piece of information, Tony would have written it off as Stephen's doctor side coming though and figuring an ultrasound would have been among the tests. That could still be the case, but Tony brushed it aside for now instead choosing to believe in the possibility there was something there living inside Stephen this entire time, right under his nose.

Cho's medical team had ran all kinds of tests in search of a foreign substance or parasite, all of them turning up negative, but perhaps they'd been going about it all wrong. Common parasites effect the blood or stool, but Tony had been stupidly ignoring the one big hint Stephen had been throwing at them this entire time, assuming it to be just another symptom. His skin.

Tony's eyes widened as he practically flew from his chair, "Friday, run a full-body scan of Stephen using the thermal scanner. Check for any irregularities in temperature, I don't care how small, and get Dr. Cho down here now."

"Right away boss."

Since day one, as Wong informed him, Stephen had been complaining of feeling like a fire was burning under his skin. A few times the man had even described feeling like his skin was crawling. Maybe, just maybe, that's because something underneath had been crawling. Tony cursed himself as he recounted the times Stephen had mentioned it. Every single one lined up with the ultrasounds and x-rays they had performed. Whatever this thing was it was alive and evading them on purpose. Not anymore.

"Boss, the thermal is picking up an irregularity in Stephen's right arm, twenty degrees lower. Continues scans show that it appears to be moving, though rather sluggish."

"Good girl, keep an eye on it and let me know if anything changes." Tony walked to the other side of the room and pulled a scalpel from one of the drawers. He turned just as Dr. Cho came walking into the room, her brows rising at the sight of the scalpel in his hand.

"Mr. Stark what do you think you're doing?"

"Potentially cracking this case wide open. I know this is going to sound crazy, but hear me out. Something has been living under his skin this entire time, likely right between it and his muscles. Friday tell her." Tony waited as Friday explained the thermal readings to Cho before continuing. "See, it explains Stephen's skin crawling. Quite literally it would seem. The only way to confirm this one hundred percent is to look ourselves, see if we can cut into whatever's there and finally get some solid answers."

Dr. Cho stared at Tony quietly, assessing the information, before walking up to him and taking the scalpel from his hand. "Let me do it."

Tony nodded and stood on the other side of Stephen's bed as Dr. Cho cleaned and injected Stephen's arm with a local anesthesia. A few seconds later and she was carefully making a small incision just below his elbow joint where Friday had directed based on the last scan. Tony watched in horror as a black, oily substance pooled to the surface before it disappeared back into the cut, Friday informing them the irregularity was beginning to shift up Stephen's arm.

Dr. Cho's face went pale as she turned to Tony, an urgency in her voice, "We have to find a way to remove whatever this thing is before it does more damage to his body."

Tony looked around the room, his mind racing before he snapped his attention back to Stephen, his eyes widening, "An ultrasound!"

"That won't-"

Tony quickly cut her off, waving a hand around as he frantically tried to explain it to her, "Whatever it is it's been talking to him, don't know how, but it has. He told me it doesn't like the ultrasound, that it's too noisy or something. You remember what happened every time we did one, I know you do. The unexplained seizures. Well, what if that's not what those were, not exactly. Maybe it really was hurting this thing, even killing it."

Tony watched as realization sparked in her eyes, "I'll get the machine started, have my team get him prepped to be moved."

He quickly had Friday call down the rest of Cho's team, anxiously pacing beside the man's bed as he waited. Within an hour the machine was up and running, Stephen's limp form on the table. Tony continued to pace nervously beside Dr. Cho. If anyone had noticed they didn't comment.

"Whatever happens, don't turn it off and don't take him out. If we're lucky this will kill whatever that thing is. The medics are waiting on standby, but for now we just need to wait it out," Dr. Cho explained to her team who all nodded their understanding, "Good, start it up."

Tony understood as well, but it didn't stop the panic from settling in his chest as the machine whirled to life. This was all a huge gamble, the unspoken truth being that no one knew if this would really help or make things worse. Given Stephen's rapidly declining health, they really had no other choice, but to try everything at their disposal and this was the one thing they knew had a negative affect on the parasite.

It didn't take long after the machine started up for the convulsions to begin. They grew more frantic and violent with every passing second forcing Tony to turn away, unable to watch. The next few seconds passed in a blur before a guttural scream tore through the room, Tony whirling back around in shock. The scream was coming from Stephen's body, but that god awful cry wasn't him.

"It's working, turn everything up!" Dr. Cho quickly commanded.

The scream grew louder along with the buzzing of the machine, the thing thrashing around inside Stephen's body. A few seconds later the thing came tearing out of Stephen's arm and began writhing on the floor as it desperately tried to slither away. Tony rushed inside the room, the iron man gauntlet forming over his arm as he was ready to blast the thing to hell. He never got the chance as the creature suddenly fell limp against the floor. Time seemed to stand still for a minute as everyone held their breaths, waiting to ensure the creature was really dead before the room exploded with commotion. The medics swarmed Stephen's limp form, checking his vitals and getting to work on his arm that was now bleeding profusely from the exit wound the creature had created. Dr. Cho walked over to Tony and took a hold of his arm, gently guiding him out of the room as she gave her team orders to secure the body and have it sent to her lab.

"He's gonna be okay Tony, but my team needs to work on him right now. Friday will let you know when you can come back down and see him." Cho gave him a reassuring smile. "Go let his friend know and maybe get yourself a nice cup of coffee, you could use it."

Tony ignored what that last sentence implied and got inside the elevator before pulling out his cellphone. Ever since Stephen had been emitted to the med bay and Wong went off to continue his own research, the two have been in constant touch, updating each other whenever possible. The last few calls had been anything, but good news, just simple updates on Stephen's worsening condition, the usual for the last few weeks.

As the phone rang, Tony breathed out a sigh of relief, the tension finally leaving his body. The road to recovery was going to be long, the damage the creature had done being extensive, but Stephen was a fighter and Tony would be there every step of the way to help him. Wong's tired voice greeted him and Tony couldn't stop the tears from spilling as he finally gave the man the good news they had been desperately hoping for.

Stephen was going to live.

**Author's Note:**

> Genuinely wasn't sure if this counts as mature or not so I gave it that rating just in case!


End file.
